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MMORPGLand 9: The Games You Hate to Love

By Heath | October 26, 2010 at 9:53 pm

A man finds himself a little TOO into his favorite MMORPG, while others find themselves underwhelmed by one they’d been hotly anticipating.  That and more in the new MMORPGLand.
There’s a bit of MMORPG news I wanted to squeeze in here before getting up the Halloween update, and I’m sorry for not having done a proper MMO column in a while. On with the stuffs.

Baby You Know I Love Ya Right? Babe?
Over the summer, RPG Land was on the receiving end of tons of Tweets and email votes naming Final Fantasy XIV the most anticipated RPG of the moment. A pretty big deal, considering the strong competition.

But launch day came, and the community was flooded with mixed opinions. We’re not talking about the usual type of mix that comes with any popular game, we’re talking some serious crap going down. The two sides were those outrageously disappointed at what appeared to be a game severely lacking in polish, and the staunch defenders, who have been pleading with the masses to wait until the game gets patched before passing final judgement.

Chief among complaints were/are the game’s lack of an auction house, sloppy menus/controls, and somewhat choppy game flow. Many mainstream review outlets, including GameTrailers, slapped the game every which direction. In my opinion, every MMORPG deserves at least a month right out of the gate before a review goes up, so perhaps some of these folks jumped the gun. By all reports, there are a hell of a lot of things to fix in this game and a month or even three or four might not see them all remedied. Time will tell.

Square Enix recently apologized to customers and granted the first wave an additional 30 days of free time. Compounded with the 30 everyone gets when starting the game, these players get their first 60 to play without subscription fees. Perhaps by that time, Square Enix foresees most of the complaints being addressed.

“There’s Nothing More to Take From Here, ‘Cause Additions They Don’t Give Back”
A report at Wired says that Hawaiin David Smallwood is taking NCsoft to court over his addiction to Lineage II. Smallwood is seeking damages, claiming that he never would have played the game in the first place if he’d known how addicted he would become.

NCsoft has a counterpoint, though, as VirtualWorldNews reports:

Smallwood’s Lineage II accounts were banned from Lineage II for engaging in alleged grey market RMT activity, which is expressly forbidden by NCSoft’s EULA. Smallwood claims he never engaged in RMT activity and that NCSoft banned his accounts negligently as part of a scheme to “force” Lineage II players to begin playing another NCSoft game, Aion, instead. Smallwood’s suit argues that his addiction to Lineage II resulted in emotional distress, a three-week hospital stay, and an ongoing regimen of therapy three times per week.

So it sounds to me like this guy got butthurt about his banning, then decided he’d try to get revenge in his own way. Either way, Smallwood is a terribly ironic name for a shut-in video game addict.

I Wonder How Many Chaarcters Will be Named “Zack” and “Maniac”
LEGO Universe, the first MMO with the LEGO brand attached to it, has just launched and can be acquired for 40 bucks. NetDevil says its already hard at work making more worlds, quests, and features. Check out its official website here.

Cataclysm Opening Cinema
We’ll close this column with the opening video of World of Warcraft‘s upcomign expansion.

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Topics: Final Fantasy XIV, Lineage II, MMORPGLand, World of Warcraft